O'Neill confirmed Monday that Republicans are supporting her for the chairmanship, but said she is not sure who will nominate her and how it might play out. She said Republicans were planning to caucus before Thursday's meeting at North Street School.

"It's true, the Republicans are supporting me, but we'll see what the final outcome is when the meeting comes," O'Neill said.

Fellow Republican Peter von Braun, who was elected with O'Neill last year after a contentious race that led to the ouster of GOP incumbent Marianna Ponns Cohen, said it was unclear at this point who would nominate O'Neill. The board is made up of four Democrats and four Republicans.

"There is a very strong sentiment not only on the board, but within the Republican Town Committee and various other people, that a Republican should lead the Board of Ed," von Braun said.

Von Braun said that while he thinks Moriarty has done a good job as chairman, he would vote for O'Neill, because he feels her background as an educator would provide a valuable perspective for the issues the board will grapple with in the coming months, such as boosting student achievement.

The other two Republicans on the school board, Anderson and Peter Sherr, could not be reached for comment.

Moriarty -- who has served on the board for seven years, and recently led the search for a new superintendent -- said she would like to remain chairman.

"I think my leadership and the continuity of leadership is important to the Board of Education at this time," Moriarty said. "In the last year, the board has worked collaboratively on a number of issue, and those issues are unresolved.

"I don't see a compelling reason to make the leadership change this year," Moriarty continued. "I feel like this is being driven purely by party politics, and not the issues in front of the Board of Education."

"I thought we had a pretty good year with the superintendent search," Farricker said. "Clearly, (O'Neill's) only criteria is having an `R' next to her name."

If O'Neill is nominated and the board splits its vote along party lines, or O'Neill and Moriarty fail to get a majority vote after a 30-day "cooling-off" period, the GOP-controlled Board of Selectmen could choose the school board chairman.

Drew Marzullo, the sole Democrat on the three-member Board of Selectmen, said he would hate to see the school board get lost in party politics.

"If this happens and the Republicans are successful, gone are the days of the perception that the Board of Education is somehow a non-political body," Marzullo said. "Leslie has performed admirably, leading the superintendent search, advocating for MISA (the Greenwich High School music instruction space and auditorium project) and is midway through a complicated budget cycle.

Last year, Sherr abstained from the initial vote for chairman, then at the next meeting broke ranks with his party to give Moriarty a 5-3 vote

Sherr told Greenwich Time earlier this year that he was happy with Moriarty's leadership, and thought it helped make the school board more functional.

"When I voted to support Leslie Moriarty for the board chair, I was really clear about why I did that," Sherr said at the time. "Effective leadership was desperately needed for that board if we were going to make progress. I think my instincts were right and we can see the change."